Equity and access are more than pillars of our curriculum; they are our calls to action. As educators and parents, there is more we all can do to bring awareness of anti-racism in our communities, and with our children, and so we’ve worked to find space to just listen as we ask ourselves one question:
What difference can we make as a community?
We know the work starts with us. Charting a course to shape the future we want to see for our children – one of collaboration, productive public discourse, and equity for all – is underpinned by equipping our learners with the tools to build a more just and peaceful world.
We’ve compiled this list of resources for talking to children of all ages about anti-racism and community activism, as well as ways to address inequities in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, as a way to support each other through the painful and difficult discussions that are no doubt happening in our homes and in our online classes. These are resources we have found helpful, and we hope you do as well.
Resources for educators:
• The nonprofit Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development has professional guidance on a wide range of topics for educators, including improving educational equity. The Association’s guide for talking about racism in schools includes thoughtful questions to ask and principles to keep in mind as educators navigate these discussions.• Teaching Tolerance’s classroom resource page includes lesson plans, learning kits, and resources for student engagement in grades K–12.
Here are some introductory resources for educators from Teaching Tolerance:
- Facilitating Critical Conversations with Students (PDF)
- Teaching About Race, Racism and Police Violence
- Why Teaching Black Lives Matter Matters
• The ADL has a wide range of tools and strategies for anti-bias education in the classroom, including educational programs and training and lesson plans with activities for grades K–12.• Additional resources:
- Race in Schools, the Need for Action from National Education Association
- Tackling Inequity in the Mathematics Classroom from Education Development Center
Resources for families:
• Table Talk is a series of articles for families to facilitate honest conversations about social injustices. Produced by the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to social equity since 1913. The ADL has also created a comprehensive book list for children of all ages on a wide range of social justice issues.• Teaching Tolerance is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center providing free resources about race and inequality. The organization focuses primarily on the classroom, but it has a great guide for parents to talk about race with kids aged 2 and up and a list of ways students can get active in the fight against social inequality.
• Embrace Race has been a leading organization teaching parents, families and communities about racial diversity and equity since 2016. It has a detailed resource page for families, including webinars and articles geared toward all age groups.
Here are some introductory articles from Embrace Race:
- How Children Learn About Race
- 10 tips for teaching and talking to kids about race
- Addressing Racial Injustice with Young Children
• Additional resources that may be helpful:- Talking About Race with Young Children audio segment from National Public Radio
- Anti-Racism Book List for Kids from New York Times
- Anti-Racism Book List for Adults from New York Times
More organizations for STEM equity and social justice in education:
National Society for Black Engineers
American Indian Science and Engineering Society
Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans
